Month: April 2019

Peru, South America, Travel

When The Saints Go Marching Out: Corpus Christi in Cusco.

They were waiting on the steps of the cathedral. All fifteen of them. Temporary wall-flowers, waiting for their turn to waltz. Adorned in fine fabrics, shot through with gold thread, capped with crowns and canopies, surrounded by fresh flowers, and outlined against a sky-blue heaven. Each surrounded by his own musicians, dancers, dignitaries and followers. Spectators milled about. Some rested on the cathedral steps, others … Continue reading When The Saints Go Marching Out: Corpus Christi in Cusco.

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History, Peru, South America, Travel

Sisters Doing It For Themselves.

Once you went in, you never came out. Santa Catalina: a pretty prison, but a prison nonetheless. Painted letters over the entrance to the first courtyard urge SILENCE, yet noise from the city surrounds you: the cries of street vendors, the clop of horses hooves, the hum of voices, the sound of life. There are forty-foot-high walls, but your prison is open to the air; … Continue reading Sisters Doing It For Themselves.

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Bolivia, South America, Travel

The ‘Benedicion de Movilidades’. (Blessing of Automobiles).

La Virgen Morena del Lago (the Dark Virgin of the Lake) lives in Copacabana, and she’s responsible for the bizarre ritual of the Ch’alla. Immediately after the conquest, Spanish treasure-seekers looted Inca temples around the lake, and priests destroyed any remaining shrines and idols, including a large female idol with a fish’s tail at Copacabana. When subsequently a series of devastating frosts ruined crops, locals … Continue reading The ‘Benedicion de Movilidades’. (Blessing of Automobiles).

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animals, Bolivia, South America, Travel

Sende Verde Wildlife Sanctuary. Bolivia.

It all started when a lorry driver brought them a monkey he’d run over. The owners of Sende Verde agreed to keep it, and now they have over four hundred animals, some rescued from illegal trafficking, some abandoned pets – all rescued from lives of misery. Visitors can see black spider, orange howler and capuchin monkeys at close quarters. Dangling from thin branches, bodies elongated, … Continue reading Sende Verde Wildlife Sanctuary. Bolivia.

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